f 



Improvecl IVTacliine 



FOR IHE 



Manufacture of Spoked Wheels. 



This machine is designed to facilitate aud improve the 

 manufacture of that clasi of spoked wheels u.-Ld upon 

 heavy vehicles, in which the nave ends of wooden spokes 

 are secured between flat nave plates of metal, one of 

 which has a hub in which the axle hearing is made, and 

 between which the nave ends of the spokes formed, as 

 shown at A in the engraving, are firmly clamped by 

 screw bolts. 



The machine acts to force into close contact the flat 

 surf-ices of the spokes at their inner ends, and thus com- 

 pictthem,so that their faces form true circular planes 

 upon which the inner faces of the flanges rest. 



It will be seen that the machine occupies space upon 

 two consecutive floors. A strong circular plate of cast 

 inn, about seven feet diameter, having its upper surtiwe 

 faced otf true, is placed horizontally level with the floor 

 of the shop Arranged at equal distances around its out- 

 er edge are a number of levers, B, equal to tlie number of 

 sjiokes to be set in the wheel— sixteen in this case— h.iv- 

 iug their tulcrums securely bolted to the plate, 'j he long 

 arms of the levers r idiate from the plate, about thrte feet 

 all around ; the short arms are formed into cams, or roll- 

 ing inclines, or curved wedges, acting upon sliding pins 

 of cast iron, which move freely in a radial direction, in 

 gui les formed in the fulcrum blocks. \\ hen the long 

 arms of the levers are raised, the sliding pins may be eas- 

 ily pressed outwards until they bear upou tlie cam-shaped 

 short arms of the levers at the point nearest the fulcrum 

 or center of motion of the lever. When the long arms of 

 the levers are lowered, their sliding pins are forced in- 

 wards by the cams, and unite in pressing inward the 

 wheel properly placed in their embrace. The levers are 

 all actuated with rapidity, uniformity and certainty, by 

 means of wrought iron rods, 0, extending downwards 

 from the ends of the levers, converging to a verdcal col- 

 umn, D, under tiie center of the plate much as the bra- 

 ces of an umbrella extend downwards from the ribs to the 

 stick. A screw is cut upon the central column, and a nut, 

 E, answering to the slide upon an umbrella stick, raises 

 or lowers all the levers at once, with great facility, and 

 with any required power. Motion is given to the nut by 

 means of beveled gears and a belt with fast and loo.se pul- 

 leys, so arranged, that, at the upward aud downward lim- 

 its the belt is thrown automatically upon the loose puUev 

 and the motion of the nut and levers slopped. Any le- 

 quired motion, either up or down, within tue range of the 

 screw, can be obtained wit.i great delicacy and conveni- 

 ence by a shipper, h', actuated by a shippiu}; rod, G The 

 fellies and spokes, of seasoned second-growth oak, having 

 been perfectly shaped and completely tiuished by machine'- 

 ry, are first put together by driving two .-pokes into a fel- 

 ly, one at a time, the felly being held firmly in a vise, U, 

 specially constructed to prevent splitting of the felly or 

 twisting of the spoke, so that a very good fit is obtained 

 at this important poiut Eight fellies, with their sixteen 

 spokes, are then placed in the press, when the perfection 

 of the fitting is shewn by the perfecC joint made by the 

 spokes when they meet in the circle to be curved and em- 

 braced by the cast-iron hub : and by the concidence of the 

 half-holes in the eontiguous sides of the spokes. A, which 

 tc^'ethnr form the holes for the eight bolts that are finally 

 to hold the hub plates together. 



Temporary hub plates, I— one above and one below— 

 with a powerful .screw in their cent r, hold the ends of all 

 the spokes truly in t'\e platie tf t.ie circular plate while 

 undergoing the pressure of the lever.-. The extent of this 



pressure is ascertained by marking carefully with a sharp 

 pencil around the ci cumference of the upper temporary 

 hub plate after the spokes have been brought to a close 

 firm joint ; and then the pre.'sure is put on till the joint 

 ot the lelhes close up. Another similar mark being n'lade 

 upon the removal of the temporary hub pla'e it is foi nd 

 that a space of a quarter of an inch is made between the 

 two pencil mark.s— a reduction in diameter o half an inch 

 jSow as r.he ditference in circumference corresiicDding to a 

 diHerence.in diameter of half an inch, is 1..5708 inches 

 this, divided by Iti (the number of .«pokes,) gives 098 of 

 an inch, or substantially one tenth of an inch, as the lat- 

 eral compies.-ion of each spoke This is bv no means the 

 limit, but is probabh sufficient to secure the spokes against 

 being loosened bv shrinkage in any climate. ' 



The hubs are firmly liolted together while the whrel is 

 in the press, and hold the spoke- .securely The fellie.s 

 spring apart a little, but only a little ; and "the tire easily 

 makes that all firm again. 



So great is the fttcility with which this machine is oper- 

 ated, that one man with an assistant easily puts together 

 six sets — twelve fore wheels and twelve hind wheels— in 

 six h'lurs and forty minutes, including the time of adjust- 

 ing machinery for the difl'erence in diameter of the wheels. 

 It is thouc-ht that the .same machine would so compress 

 wood as to mak" most admirable car wheels. 



The great point in a whet-l made in this manner is the 

 thorough compactness of the hub-end of the spoke The 

 other end of the spoke receives scarcely less benefit. Jiy 

 ob.<erviug an old wheel it will be seen that the spoke is 

 bedded Into the felly This is ilone by degr. cs, and is un- 

 avoidable in wheels made in the usual way. The only 

 way to keep the wheel together is to reset the tire so as to 

 take up the looseness caused by this slow crushing pro- 

 cess liy putting on a pressure of more than ten times 

 the amount the »heel will ever be called upon to sustain 

 in actual u.se, it is claimed that the spoke and felly are so 

 compacted that if the tire is properly set, it will remain 

 tight until worn out The wheels are made by this iiM'tli- 

 od perfectly rouml and true 'I'he pressure di>tribiitcd 

 about the rim can be varied from nothing to one hundred 

 tons, if required. 



There are rea-ons why iron-hubbed wheels made in this 

 manner should be far superior to wheels with wooden 

 hubs The spokes cannot crush into the bub, as they will 

 do into woo.Jen hubs, whether driven full .size into a very 

 large hub, as was the practice fifty years since, or as at 

 present, into a smaller huh, ihe spoke.s having tenons and 

 shoulders With wooden hubs the spokes are weakened 

 just where they need the greatest strength, while in the 

 iron-hubbed wheel the spokes are more than twice as large 

 at the hub as a wooden hub wheel of corresponding size. 

 It is al.so claimed that a wheel made on this plan will not 

 shrink, and that as the bases of the spokes are as firmly 

 conipres'^ed against each other as it is possible for wood to 

 be, and held by niotallic flanges firmly bolted together, it 

 is the most mechanical and iieitVct method of constructing 

 wagon wheels for heavy work yet devi.-ed. 



Iron-hubbed wheels are becoming verv popni ir in many 

 localities, even when constructed in the'comparativelv im- 

 perfect manner eniplo.\ed before the application of this in- 

 ventimi ; and there is no doubt the improvement resulting 

 from the method described will tend to make them more 

 generally iioi)iilar than hitherto. 



Patented. Dec. 28. lKli9, by E. A. ARfllTBALD, of 

 Methuen, M&ss.—Scientijic Ainakan, March btU. 



